We call it Museday. Once a week, we sit around the table (usually in classroom one) and the magic starts flying. Which presenters are we featuring this week in the newsletter? When is the winner of the 2015 Book Prize, Josh Weil’s session (and wasn’t that novel fabulous)? What’s the deal with the dance party this year? How can we connect meaningfully with presenters and attendees on social media?

Before I came on staff, I never realized just how much work goes in to the Muse and the Marketplace. It’s a mountain (or rather, an entire mountain range) of moving parts that come together to form a well-oiled literary machine. And it only works because of the careful planning and countless hours of every single person on the team. It occurred to me that most folks who enjoy the Muse don’t know about the nitty gritty details that create the complete conference experience that has folks coming back year after year.

For example, this week, I’m working on fostering connections amongst the Muse community. We want to keep things engaging; we want everyone, from first-time attendee to keynote speaker, to feel like they’re connected, that they’re in on and a part of the conversation. Grant (our fantastic executive assistant) and I have been chatting about how we can help make these connections happen (always keeping in mind, of course, that we need to keep our energies and resources focused). Ideas are vetted and after some collaboration, we decide that stepping up our Twitter and Facebook campaigns is the way to encourage attendees and presenters to engage, and in a way that promotes ownership over the conversation. And so, I’m off to make that happen.

What should you look out for, Muse attendees? A Twitter chat with conference organizers, Chris Castellani and Sonya Larson that’s exclusively for folks coming to the Muse this year. Facebook posts that show just what happens behind the scenes and some fun polls that will get you chatting, not just with us, but with one another.

So don’t forget to engage with me or any of the other amazing Muse team members on Facebook and Twitter (@GrubWriters). Be sure to follow the hashtag #Muse15 for all the latest and greatest tweets on what’s up with the Muse!

KL Pereira’s chapbook, Impossible Wolves was published by Deathless Press is 2013. Her fiction, poetry, and nonfiction are forthcoming or appear in Shimmer Zine, Lightning Cake, The Golden Key, Innsmouth Free Press, Innsmouth Magazine, Mythic Delirium, Jabberwocky, The Medulla Review, Bitch Magazine and other publications. Pereira’s work on fairy tales, sexuality, Wonder Woman, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are featured on Studio 360 and other radio programs, cited in numerous publications, and assigned in courses all over the United States and Canada. Find Pereira online on klpereira.com and @kl_pereira and in person at Grub Street where she is the manager of The Grub Daily, a blog for the whole writer, and a long-time instructor of amazing adult and teen writers.